


The Suriel

by rhysandsdarling



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: alternate POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-22
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-08-16 17:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8110315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysandsdarling/pseuds/rhysandsdarling
Summary: The Suriel chapters in ACOTAR from the Suriel's point of view.All characters and dialogue belong to the legendary Sarah J Mass!





	

I could taste the change in the air. The blight had spread, become more determined. Most thought it was rallying itself for another attack, perhaps on the humans, confident it would not be stopped. I knew better. The land was sick, but a cure had been found.

I wandered the familiar forest in no particular path, but followed the feeling of a thread tugging at my gut. Birches and elm shaded the moss underfoot; deep green in the dark but emerald green in the dappled, golden sunlight. The Spring Court. Rebirth and change. They were fools not to see it.

My sisters in the pond nodded to me, that I was heading in the right direction.

The tug lulled as I approached a small clearing of birches, with a dead chicken lying bloodied on the ground. I could smell her. The girl that pulls together the threads of the future like a tapestry.

It was a pathetic attempt at a lure, I could kill a chicken on my own. The High Fae know so little of their “lesser” counterparts. If only they knew what we could see.

I had no second thoughts as I walked right into the trap.

As my ankles were snared I screamed, to let her think she had won.

When she appeared I knew letting myself get captured was the right choice. Standing tall with a bow and arrow, she may have been a human, but not one that knew fear. I sniffed, and smelled her stalking towards me.

“Are you one of the Suriel?”

I turned slowly and glimpsed the girl, the tiny human girl that woul be remembered for thousands of years to come. She would be immortal.

“Human, did you set this clever, wicked trap for me?” I said, playing my part of the game.

The High Fae think we only see all that has passed – they do not know how far our reach extends. The past is all in stone but the future is infinite. So many possibilities that appear and disappear as choices are made, each a thread stretching into the distance, pulsing with opportunity. Sometimes, which thread remains and which are turned into dust cannot be certain until a decision has been made. Sometimes, each thread lines up, weaving together, months before any action has been taken.

This woman’s thread of golden light was straight and untangled behind me, but in front of me an unprecedented amount of others converged on hers. They wrapped and knotted but shone through brighter than the rest.

Only one other stood out in particular. One made of constellations. Very interesting.

“Are you one of the Suriel?” the girl repeated.

“Indeed I am,” I crooned, tapping my fingers with each word.

“Then the trap was for you.”

I hoped she wouldn’t be remembered through history for her stupidity.

“I have not seen a human woman for an age. Come closer so I might look upon my captor.”

She didn’t move. Can’t blame me for trying to get a closer look at that tapestry.

“And which of my brethren betrayed my secrets to you?” I offered instead.

“None of them. My mother told me stories of you.”

So humans underestimated us too.

“Lies – I can smell the lies on your breath,” I sniffed to prove the point. “What would a human woman want from the Suriel?”

“You tell me,” she whispered. The girl was smart.

“A test? A foolish and useless test, for if you dare to capture me, then you must want knowledge very badly,” I bared my teeth in a wicked smile. “Ask me your questions, human, and then free me.

The girl swallowed.  “Is there—is there truly no way for me to go home?”

“Not unless you seek to be killed, and your family with you. You must remain here.” Not unless she wanted the entire world to rain blood and snow ash.

I saw a light flicker out in her eyes before she schooled her face. “What do you know about Tamlin?” Clever indeed. Too clever for the man who had stolen her and would do so again and again.

“More specific, human. Be more specific. For I know a good many things about the High Lord of the Spring Court.” She needed to ask the right questions if I were to give her the answers she needed.

“Tamlin is—Tamlin is a High Lord?”

“You did not know. Interesting,” I drawled. Interesting, but not surprising. She may be clever, but she was ignorant of our world.

She knew so little of where she was, who was holding her prisoner. Who was holding the world prisoner. I needed to pick what threads I revealed to ensure that tapestry didn’t begin to unravel in front of my eyes.

The girl took a moment to absorb the information.

“Did you also not know that this is the Spring Court, little human?” I offered. Not that I needed to hear her answer.

“Yes—yes, I knew about that.”

“Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Dawn, Day, and Night. The seven Courts of Prythian, each ruled by a High Lord, all of them deadly in their own way. They are not merely powerful—they are Power,”

Each had threads of different quality too. The High Lord of the Autumn Court was a tendril of fire, burning greedily. The High Lord of the Summer Court a spiralling whirlpool. They had all danced among each other across the centuries making complicated knots.

“Everyone at the Spring Court is stuck wearing a mask, and yet you aren’t,” the girl ventured. “Are you not a member of the Court?”

“I am a member of no Court. I am older than the High Lords, older than Prythian, older than the bones of this world.”

“And what can be done about this blight that has spread in Prythian, stealing and altering the magic? Where did it come from?”

Good, girl. Seal your fate.

“Stay with the High Lord, human,” I said. “That’s all you can do. You will be safe. Do not interfere; do not go looking for answers after today, or you will be devoured by the shadow over Prythian. He will shield you from it, so stay close to him, and all will be righted.”

Even if the blight hadn’t prevented me from talking about it, I wouldn’t have revealed any more. Any specifics. Humans and Fae alike have a tendency to try and avoid their fates, try to change the will of the Cauldron. Often to ruinous ends. It was best to let her think she had a choice.

“Where did the blight come from?” she said, obviously frustrated with the lack of clarity in my answer.

I narrowed my eyes, thinking of the precise words I needed to choose. “The High Lord does not know that you came here today, does he? He does not know that his human woman came to trap a Suriel, because he cannot give her the answers she seeks. But it is too late, human—for the High Lord, for you, perhaps for your realm as well …”

The girl clenched her teeth - she wasn’t just smart; she was a fighter. “Across the violent western sea, there is another faerie kingdom called Hybern, ruled by a wicked, powerful king.” The girl raised an eyebrow. “Yes, a king. Not a High Lord—there, his territory is not divided into courts. There, he is law unto himself. Humans no longer exist in that realm—though his throne is made of their bones.”

The girl turned pale at the thought.

“For some time now, the King of Hybern has found himself unhappy with the Treaty the other ruling High Fae of the world made with you humans long ago. He resents that he was forced to sign it, to let his mortal slaves go and to remain confined to his damp green isle at the edge of the world. And so, a hundred years ago, he dispatched his most-trusted and loyal commanders, his deadliest warriors, remnants of the ancient armies that he once sailed to the continent to wage such a brutal war against you humans, all of them as hungry and vile as he. As spies and courtiers and lovers, they infiltrated the various High Fae courts and kingdoms and empires around the world for fifty years, and when they had gathered enough information, he made his plan. But nearly five decades ago, one of his commanders disobeyed him. The Deceiver. And—” I straightened, hearing the hisses and scurrying of animals. “We are not alone.”

The girl drew her bow and looked to the trees with an ear cocked. Hoping her human ears could pick up the disturbance that my faerie ones had. But I knew should couldn’t hear the panting breaths and low growls of the approaching faeries, or smell the bloodlust in their veins. 

 “Human, you must free me and run,” I rushed, unable to restrain my fear. “Run for the High Lord’s manor. Do not forget what I told you—stay with the High Lord, and live to see everything righted.”

“What is it?” she asked, as if she could help. We did not have the time to spare for this.

“The naga—faeries made of shadow and hate and rot. They heard my scream, and they smelled you. Free me, human,” I pleaded, “They will cage me if they catch me here. Free me and return to the High Lord’s side.”

The panic hit home. The girl lunged for the snare, swapping her bow for her knife. But not before dark shadows began melting into the grove.

There were four of them. They had greed and death in their shining eyes. We were not going to get out of this alive.

The girl aimed her arrow at the one in the middle. It smiled and I could smell its reeking breath. Near panic, I tried to free myself from the snare.

“The Dark Mother has sent us a gift today, brothers,” said the naga, eyes trained hungrily on me. “And a meal.”

They looked to the girl. “Not much to eat,” a different one said.

The girl began backing away. She was going to leave me here, trapped, left for the slaughter.

“Human,” I pleaded. The girl didn’t stop. Her eyes were trained on the naga as they stalked towards us.

But behind her eyes I could see her mind working, forming a plan.

I hoped it included setting me free.

The girl drew her bow and screamed.

All eyes of the naga snapped to her, temporarily forgetting me, and she fired the arrow.

But at the snare trapping my feet instead of the naga.

The moment my ankle was free I shot off through the trees. My heart thumped in fear, and not for not only myself.

That girl, that human girl with a human heart and human weaknesses saved me. Had put her life in danger in order to get mine out of it. I had to tell my sisters.

As I ran from the grove I tried not to think about the fragile flesh of the girl, or the blood than pulsed underneath and how easily it could be spilled. She was a fighter, she could take her of herself. She knew exactly what she was doing when she fired that arrow.

I hoped the girl would beat the naga. She needed to. For herself, for all of Prythian. Because I was not the last person she was supposed to save.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a head cannon that the Suriel actually just know everything and they are only every trapped when they wanna be. And I had to write something for our number 1 feyrhys shipper.
> 
> Also, thank you so so so much for reading. I hoped you enjoyed reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> Please leave kudos or comments if you liked it! It is the best encouragement to keep me writing. I'll also happily take any requests, message me on my tumblr: rhysands-darling.tumblr.com.
> 
> Many thanks to acourtofrhysandandcassian.tumblr.com for being my beta!


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